Dr. Douglas Grose, AMD Senior Vice President of Manufacturing, Technology
Development and Supply Chain, Calls on Industry to Rethink Investment
Priorities
AUSTIN, TEXAS, October 24 /CNW/ - AMD (NYSE: AMD) will present the morning
keynote at the 4th International SEMATECH Manufacturing Initiative (ISMI)
Symposium emphasizing the need for a smarter, industry-wide approach to
semiconductor development, production and delivery that better meets customer
needs.
Dr. Douglas Grose, senior vice president of manufacturing, technology
development and supply chain at AMD, will describe what he and a growing list
of industry leaders see as strategic imperatives for the Next Generation
Factory (NGF). "The industry can adopt a vision here today to better meet
customers' needs with accuracy, agility and efficiency, in addition to the
more traditional route of making wafers larger and transistors smaller," said
Grose.
Dr. Grose's speech extends an ongoing NGF dialogue with integrated
circuit manufacturers, material suppliers, tool vendors and industry analysts
on how to maximize utilization of existing 300mm technologies and facilities
before moving onto a larger, 450mm wafer size.
Building on its pioneering efforts in the adoption of Lean techniques and
Automated Precision Manufacturing in semiconductor factories, AMD is joining
with industry partners, including ISMI, to develop new tools and processes for
further streamlining both front-end and back-end production. For example,
current practice across the industry is to move wafers through the process
steps in 25 wafer batches, but most of the tools can only process a few or
even one wafer at a time, greatly increasing the amount of time it takes to
process an entire 25 wafers, slowing the delivery to the customer and
extending time-to-revenue for the manufacturer. Small Lot Manufacturing (SLM)
and Single Wafer Tools (SWT) are proposed changes that would greatly improve
manufacturing efficiency, but requires an industry-wide shift in thinking.
Collaborating on addressing this issue and others magnifies the impact by
distributing investments of time, talent and money across all the parties that
ultimately benefit.
AMD's operations have already benefited from these NGF concepts. At AMD's
Fab 30 in Dresden, Germany, AMD has realized significant cost and time
savings, including a 26 percent reduction in monthly wafer costs, a 31 percent
increase in wafer output and a 72 percent increase in labor productivity.
"With a disciplined focus on what's really important - delivering the
products our customers want at the right time, at the right cost - we're
already seeing impressive results across AMD, but we've only realized a
fraction of the full potential of the Next Generation Factory," said Grose.
"Our industry's future will be determined by our ability to make smart
decisions and unite behind a common vision."
Who: Dr. Douglas Grose, Senior Vice President of Technology
Development, Manufacturing and Supply Chain, AMD
What: Keynote address: A Call to Action on the Next Generation
Factory
When: Wednesday, October 24, 8:15 - 9:00 a.m. CDT
Where: 4th ISMI Symposium on Manufacturing Effectiveness
Hilton Austin Airport
Austin, Texas
http://ismi.sematech.org/ismisymposium/
About AMD
Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE: AMD) is a leading global provider of
innovative processing solutions in the computing, graphics and consumer
electronics markets. AMD is dedicated to driving open innovation, choice and
industry growth by delivering superior customer-centric solutions that empower
consumers and businesses worldwide. For more information, visit www.amd.com.
AMD, the AMD Arrow logo and combinations thereof, are trademarks of
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